I have met too many Christians whose fear of God and of displeasing God have made it virtually impossible for them to experience peace or comfort. They are afraid of what God’s judgments, that they will anger God, and believe that only by being scrupulously careful to do everything correctly can they avoid condemnation.
This sense of fear is so endemic to their relationship with God that they equate this fearfulness with religious devotion. Constantly being on edge, because God will judge, is believed to be the proper emotional and psychological state of the faithful. Anything less is interpreted as not being committed to God.
These sincere but unfortunate believers affirm God’s love and grace, but in no practical sense do they experience the peace of being in God’s mercy. To suggest to them a less fearful way of relating to God sounds like you are attempting to lead them astray.
If they were to actually relax into God’s gracious care, they would be losing their zeal and faith. They are afraid of not being afraid enough, and therefore retreat immediately from joy, peace, and hope. These graces do not seem godly to them, but signs of succumbing to spiritual malaise.
Certainly, scripture talks about fearing God, as in these passages:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:6)
Fear God and keep his commandments. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
I believe these statements are simply saying that God truly matters. God is important, vital, and to be taken seriously. God is not to be dismissed, discounted, ignored, or overlooked.
To fear God means to know that we need to be directing our constant attention to who God is, what God does, and to God’s will for us. To not fear God is to give no thought or consideration to the ways, words, or character of God.
In the process of human spiritual awakening, our first, unenlightened response to awareness of God is terror. Our innate sense of guilt makes us fear that God must be furious with us. The initial encounter with Light makes us ashamed of our own darkness, and we understandably assume, because we do not know God, that God’s reaction to our sinfulness must be similar to our own dark impulses. We are not gracious or forgiving.
Unfortunately, the language of “fearing God” fits our immature perspective and we imagine that we are to be in a constant state of dread of what God will do if we do not obey exactly as he wants. However, we do not know perfection, holiness, goodness, or love. Awareness of God’s existence without knowing God’s character means that we project our own assumptions onto God.
Terrible fear is normative for us when we are spiritually immature. The fear of judgment, punishment, and death is the tool that Satan uses to keeps us slaves. This is precisely what Jesus destroys.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18
The word perfect here means complete, or mature. Until we realize that Satan has been using the terror of punishment to keep us captive, and that such fear is not the proper, God-given religious feeling, we cannot progress into life in God.
The initial fearfulness of immaturity is swept away with God’s unexpected mercy and grace. We move from a fear nurtured by Satan, to hold us captive, to being enthralled with a God in whom our whole existence is kept in love.
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